Healthy People, Little Kids, and Smokers

(Apologies in advance for the generalizations)

As anyone who has been to Europe might have noticed, smokers are much more omnipresent than in America. Whereas there are McDonald's and Starbucks on every American corner, in Oslo these appear to be replaced by smokers. Smokers smoke on the balcony next to yours, they smoke around children, they ruin your perfect sunset moment at the Oslo harbor, they smoke in the bathrooms of the Eurail trains, they litter their cigarette butts all over the street, and they make you move inside the restaurant just as you were beginning to get comfortable on the terrace. I'm sure there are some smokers who are also nice people, but in my experience I have never seen a polite smoker. Because smoking is more common in Europe than in the U.S., I might be overreacting, but I really think that there should be a mandatory course on smoking etiquette. Before you buy a pack of cigarettes, you should be required to show a certificate that proves you passed said course. This would make everyone's lives a lot nicer.

To appearances, smoking seems like the only health issue here in Oslo. It has only been a few days since I arrived, but I have already noticed that most people here are fit and active. At Sognsvann lake there is always a multitude of joggers and even the occasional brave swimmer, as well as students playing volleyball and soccer on the grass. Whereas America's obesity epidemic is quite visible everywhere you go, here, I must say I can't remember noticing any such thing yet. (This is not to say that everyone is model-thin, of course.)

I have noticed an unusually high number of pregnant women and young children in just the short time I have been here. Intrigued, I looked up Norway's fertility rate, and it turns out they have one of the highest in Europe. This does not surprise me, as Norway's standard of living is high, therefore making it a great place to raise a family, and Kringsja Village has a huge number of young families housed in it. There is even a daycare center and quite a few playgrounds. (This is new for me, because at UCSB the students who have families are usually housed away from the other students, who usually live in party-central Isla Vista or freshman dorms. I prefer that separation, because here it is a little disruptive when you have 20 kids screaming outside your apartment.)